From military to sci-fi to fantasy, from MMOs to block-builders to card battlers, it turns out that zero can buy you quite a lot in the F2P game world — and that some classics are available at the steepest possible discount.

From cultural phenomenons like Fortnite, to all-time classics like Team Fortress 2, there are good games for free that suit literally every type of PC player. Finding these free download PC games reminded us just how far the world has come; you really can get triple-A quality games without spending a penny.

So without further ado, here are the best free games on PC. Sure, Monster Hunter: World may have finally made the leap onto PC, but Dauntless offers the same brilliant monster-slaying gameplay at a budget of zero.

Dauntless lets you buddy up with up to three friends in co-op and take on a series of increasingly challenging Behemoths you can read our Dauntless guide if you need help , each one offering a new set of attacks and abilities to learn and overcome.

Just make sure that your party is packing a variety of weapons as you will need to chain abilities and combos to stand any chance of taking down these challenging beasts. Thanks to CCG titan Hearthstone, there are lot more card gaming experts around than there used to be.

Play Magic: The Gathering for free. If you like the idea of World of Tanks but the battlefields just are not wet enough, then you need World of Warships. Introducing the navy to the concept of deathmatch, the controls are simple and welcoming, but allow for interesting tactics.

World of Warships esports scene is also far more exciting than it has any right to be. Play World of Warships for free. Crossout is a vehicular combat MMO in which you craft outlandish cars and then drive them into battle alongside other players.

Crossout contains a variety of co-op and competitive game modes, as well as a marketplace full of tradable goods. The sheer number of Crossout factions , different body types, guns, cannons, and armor ensures that there are many different ways to play… although they are all pretty deadly.

Launched in May last year Crossout was one of the best free PC games of This massively-multiplayer WW2 combat game effortlessly encompasses all of the explosions and excitement that planes and tanks are capable of generating.

Not sure where to start? One of the mightiest PC tank games there has ever been, World of Tanks 1. It pits two teams of tankers against each other in a classic deathmatch scenario.

There are hundreds of vehicles to unlock across ten different tiers, from speedy scouts to hulking heavies. You will be surprised at how many tanks Wargaming have managed to cram in.

Play World of Tanks for free. Or, at least, than they do. Each quest in this MMO is like an episode of the show, and each mission series is an arc, complete with the occasional filler episode.

Play Star Trek Online for free. Packed with action-focused combat, challenging dungeons, and amazing locations to explore, this is one of the best RPGs on this list. Rift was once a subscription-based fantasy MMO — like World of Warcraft in new trousers, essentially.

It made its name by updating and improving itself at a ferocious pace, with new raids, new zones, new world events appearing on a monthly basis.

Now it is entirely free-to-play: you can explore its colourful, exciting world without spending a penny. You can try to master the endless sea as a notorious pirate or choose to be a humble peddler of crafted goods.

The labour system — how ArcheAge gates its content — may take time to get used to, but nevertheless it is a really solid free-to-play experience.

Yes, magical swords and fancy armour are still a huge part of ArcheAge. Some of that armour is on the backs of the dragon mounts who arrived in the recent Legends Return update — majestic killers raised by players who want to tame the skies as well as the seas.

Just like those MMO great, Trove is also all about grinding for more and more gear, making it a great hobby game especially as it regularly receives hefty updates that add everything from new dungeons to PvP game modes for you to try out.

It blends some MMO elements with the sensibilities of a more straightforward action game, creating something slick, exciting, and very sociable.

A shiny, colourful space sim that places you in a massively multiplayer universe, Star Conflict drops you right in the middle of an interplanetary skirmish that encompasses both PvE and PvP.

Its void is as roomy as any other sector of space you might name, while its busy, man-made surface environments recall the twisty tunnels of the Descent series.

The keys to its success? High-wire swordplay pulled straight from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and a propulsive revenge plot akin to that of Kill Bill. It is a highlights package of the best of Wushu.

Guild Wars 2 is one of the best MMOs available. Even better: you can play a huge chunk of it for free. Seize the free-to-play concepts behind World of Tanks, take them to the skies, and you have World of Warplanes, a game of whirling dogfights and nail-biting bombing runs for teams of jet bombers and biplanes alike.

Love crunchy guitar riffs and destruction derbies? Of course you do. Heavy Metal Machines is a 4v4 car battle brawler that marries the two. Warface is a fast-action military shooter, but less concerned with realism than its po-faced peers.

Warface wants you to do two things: cooperate with your team in urban deathmatches, and slide along on your arse while firing a machine gun.

After a disastrous launch and many months spent recovery mode developers developer Square Enix has managed to right the course of its ambitious Final Fantasy MMO and build one of the best gaming communities along the way.

Rather than giving players a top-down view of the battlefield, however, it chooses a third-person perspective, switching the focus of the game from tactics to action. Plus, instead of a roster of colourful fantasy characters, each player takes on the role of almighty Smite gods inspired by real religions, from Norse to Celtic to Chinese.

This charmingly designed CCG eases you in gently with its tutorial and single-player story mode, and keeps you coming back with complex gameplay and new card packs every three months. You have seven different leader classes to choose from, and they each allow significant strategic depth.

Whether you are an aggressive, cautious, or sneaky player, Shadowverse will cater to your playstyle. The world might be being threatened by menacing, masked bad guys and an all-consuming frost, but it was Gwent to which we lost countless hours.

The increased variety of unit types and abilities leaves the original mini-game in the dust. Each Closer has their own combat style and that, combined with the thousands of weapons at your disposal, makes the experience different every time you play.

Do we need to tell you what Fortnite is? Among them are the biggest Twitch streamers, sports stars, and celebrities. Aside from being free to play, there are several reasons why Fortnite has wiped the floor with the competition.

Despite being thrown together in a couple of months and bolted onto the side of the original Fortnite: Save the World game, this cartoony last-man-standing is the ever-evolving foundation for weekly updates, seasonal changes, and a plethora of genre-defining new ideas.

Casual players need not fear though; simple shooting and rules keep it accessible, and the building mechanics offers depth to chase.

Our Fortnite tips will guide you to a Victory Royale. Your champion, rather than being chained to the floor by gravity, can simply spread their wings and soar through the skies of Nuanor.

The seamless open world is yours to explore on your terms, with nothing deemed out of bounds. Flying is not just for exploration, either. The numerous PvP modes include an aerial combat arena, adding a new dimension to multiplayer battles.

Paladins is a team-based hero shooter that pits teams of colourful, ability-laden heroes against each other.

You can play as a mecha-goblin or gigantic rolling bomb and work in conjunction with your comrades to knock the numbers out of your opponents before diving on the objective.

Bonus: everyone gets their own horse. New to Eve? With a gargantuan selection of cards, the game now supports hundreds of different play styles, which you can easily tailor by building your perfect Hearthstone decks.

Inspired by the original Dota, League of Legends takes the same 5v5 base attack concept, but introduces a completely different roster of playable characters that is constantly being expanded.

Many players find League of Legends is easier and more accessible than Dota, but it is still extremely nuanced; it has one of the highest skill ceilings in gaming, and the best players are considered tactical geniuses.

It is no mean feat, as both teams bases spawn waves of creatures and are protected by powerful towers. Phil Savage: A coming-of-age platformer starring an anthropomorphic cat returning home to a dead-end town after dropping out of college.

I particularly love the frequent use of minigames as a way to highlight the need to escape the monotony of day-to-day responsibility. Andy Kelly: A beautiful, heartfelt story brought to life by flawed, nuanced characters who just happen to be talking animals.

It says something about life, but always knows when to crack a joke—and always with perfect timing—when things get too heavy. Philippa Warr: Deadly Premonition is always a gamble of a recommendation.

It's a gamble worth taking, though, because if you get on with its strangeness and its idiosyncrasies, it rewards you with a weird and beautiful experience of a kind you don't often get in gaming.

Yes, the cars handle horribly. Yes, the PC version has crashed on me extensively. Yes, it starts off more as an irritating pastiche of Twin Peaks.

Yes, it has frustrating quicktime events. And yes, some reveals draw uncomfortably on lazy tropes. But within that is a supernatural-tinged mystery that alternates between survival horror third-person shooter and a horror comedy investigation.

None of the game's shortcomings were dealbreakers for me and several of the characters I encountered as I hunted for the Raincoat Killer have stayed with me for the best part of a decade.

Pip: Stick Shift is my go-to example of a game which invokes complex subject matter while also being really fun to play. As per developer Robert Yang's description: "Stick Shift is an autoerotic night-driving game about pleasuring a gay car.

It's also a game where you move your mouse rhythmically, working your car to a climax. Phil: Frontier's galactic sandbox treads a fine line between excitement and tedium.

Ferrying pesticides to an outpost six lightyears away! However you decide to play, though—whatever amount of excitement you desire—Elite is still a masterfully crafted spaceship simulator.

I love the design and feel of its ships, particularly the holographic UI and peerless sci-fi sound design. Andy: Whether it's a chunky cargo hauler or a nimble fighter, every starship in Elite has its own distinct personality.

They're all a delight to fly. Even the most mundane task feels wonderfully tactile. But developer Level-5 has done fine on its own, creating a rich fantasy world with a cast of vivid characters worthy of the Ghibli name.

This is a sweeping JRPG about an usurped boy king on a quest to rebuild his kingdom and reclaim his throne. It's also one of the most colourful, vibrant games on PC.

Wes: The cutscenes are remarkably Ghibli and full of pep and puns, but what really made me fall for Ni No Kuni 2 is just how many systems it layers atop systems, like a big-budget JRPG of old.

The sprawling kingdom builder is the centerpiece, with characters to recruit and buildings to construct and upgrade. Pip: Mu Cartographer is initially obtuse.

But once you start tinkering with all the different buttons and dials on the interface you begin to see how to explore the strange map.

The peaks and troughs of digital noise on your display suddenly turn into recognisable shapes as you tweak the settings and find the sweet spot.

Stepped pyramids rise up where seconds ago all you could see was a fuzzy mess. Phil: Guild Wars 2 is full of clever quality-of-life features—it's still one of the few MMOs that's figured out how to let you easily play with friends of a different level.

The flow and pace of its maps are a thing of beauty, too. Groups expand and contract naturally, as people wander off to explore on their own, before coming together for a small-scale event or organising to complete a single map-wide objective.

You get all the joy of cooperation without the need to commit a significant amount of your time. Just turn up and play. Then, when you eventually get tired, go off and do something else.

There's also no subscription, and none of the expansions have raised the level cap, so you're free to come and go as you please, playing at your own pace without ever worrying that you're falling behind.

You can play for hours every week if you want—ticking off the hardest achievements and earning the rarest loot—but I'm happy to log back in every six months or so, safe in the knowledge that I'm ready for whatever's next.

100 good games to play

Love crunchy guitar riffs and destruction derbies? Of course you do. Heavy Metal Machines is a 4v4 car battle brawler that marries the two. Warface is a fast-action military shooter, but less concerned with realism than its po-faced peers.

Warface wants you to do two things: cooperate with your team in urban deathmatches, and slide along on your arse while firing a machine gun. After a disastrous launch and many months spent recovery mode developers developer Square Enix has managed to right the course of its ambitious Final Fantasy MMO and build one of the best gaming communities along the way.

Rather than giving players a top-down view of the battlefield, however, it chooses a third-person perspective, switching the focus of the game from tactics to action.

Plus, instead of a roster of colourful fantasy characters, each player takes on the role of almighty Smite gods inspired by real religions, from Norse to Celtic to Chinese. This charmingly designed CCG eases you in gently with its tutorial and single-player story mode, and keeps you coming back with complex gameplay and new card packs every three months.

You have seven different leader classes to choose from, and they each allow significant strategic depth. Whether you are an aggressive, cautious, or sneaky player, Shadowverse will cater to your playstyle.

The world might be being threatened by menacing, masked bad guys and an all-consuming frost, but it was Gwent to which we lost countless hours. The increased variety of unit types and abilities leaves the original mini-game in the dust.

Each Closer has their own combat style and that, combined with the thousands of weapons at your disposal, makes the experience different every time you play.

Do we need to tell you what Fortnite is? Among them are the biggest Twitch streamers, sports stars, and celebrities. Aside from being free to play, there are several reasons why Fortnite has wiped the floor with the competition.

Despite being thrown together in a couple of months and bolted onto the side of the original Fortnite: Save the World game, this cartoony last-man-standing is the ever-evolving foundation for weekly updates, seasonal changes, and a plethora of genre-defining new ideas.

Casual players need not fear though; simple shooting and rules keep it accessible, and the building mechanics offers depth to chase. Our Fortnite tips will guide you to a Victory Royale.

Your champion, rather than being chained to the floor by gravity, can simply spread their wings and soar through the skies of Nuanor.

The seamless open world is yours to explore on your terms, with nothing deemed out of bounds. Flying is not just for exploration, either. The numerous PvP modes include an aerial combat arena, adding a new dimension to multiplayer battles.

Paladins is a team-based hero shooter that pits teams of colourful, ability-laden heroes against each other. You can play as a mecha-goblin or gigantic rolling bomb and work in conjunction with your comrades to knock the numbers out of your opponents before diving on the objective.

Bonus: everyone gets their own horse. New to Eve? With a gargantuan selection of cards, the game now supports hundreds of different play styles, which you can easily tailor by building your perfect Hearthstone decks.

Inspired by the original Dota, League of Legends takes the same 5v5 base attack concept, but introduces a completely different roster of playable characters that is constantly being expanded.

Many players find League of Legends is easier and more accessible than Dota, but it is still extremely nuanced; it has one of the highest skill ceilings in gaming, and the best players are considered tactical geniuses.

It is no mean feat, as both teams bases spawn waves of creatures and are protected by powerful towers. It is tough, complex, and inspires fanaticism in its fans. It is one of the most played games on Steam, and draws in hundreds of thousands of players every day.

Instead of a single map, Heroes of the Storm has many themed arenas that ask you not only to defeat the enemy but also complete side quests to help improve your chances. Not only does this provide variety, but it is intensely fun.

Combined with the All-Stars approach that pulls maps and characters from every Blizzard game — from Warcraft to Overwatch — Heroes of the Storm is the most polished of the MOBA gang, and the easiest to pick up and play.

You can also expect a consistent stream of new characters like the new hero Imperius from Diablo. The whole game is free-to-play these days, from the standard shoot-everything-that-moves deathmatches to the fantastic Mann vs Machine co-op mode where teams fend off waves of robots.

In Armored Warfare, the tanks of today and tomorrow are at war. Duelyst is a free PC CCG that offers players something a little more strategic than just laying down cards.

Instead of a standard deck and board, Duelyst offers a five-by-nine grid straight out of a top-down tactical game like Blood Bowl. Cards in Duelyst spawn in units rather than simply casting effects, which makes for a game that is like a CCG twist on chess.

Order your units across the grid, out-maneuver your opponent, and score a worthy victory. Counterplay Games Inc.

Control gigantic ships and shoot your intergalactic foes in intense battles as you use your tactical nous to capture bases.

From solo scraps in PvE to 5v5 quickplay, there are plenty of modes to get your teeth into if you are low on time. With Dreadnought, a team-based dogfighter from Yager Development, you can pilot massive spaceships across the skies of many different planets for absolutely zero cost.

Dreadnought gives you access to a variety of ships equipped with massive, earth-shattering weapons that you can customise down to the last thermal exhaust port.

The combat is a tactical affair, with a combination of slow methodical broadside assaults and rapid, piercing strikes. There are several game modes to choose from in this space game , and doing well in the tactical team-based warfare will reward you with an ever-growing fleet of ships.

Lots of people like to play golf, and many of them like to play golf videogames, too. MMOs are designed for lots of people. Therefore the two should combine, and they do in Winning Putt.

The good news is that this free PC game has all the trappings you would expect from that genre, wrapped around a perfectly serviceable set of thwack-the-ball-into-the-hole mechanics.

There are plenty of upgrades and wardrobe items to be had, plus all kinds of friendly and competitive play options. And a man with a really nice voice gently encourages you throughout — something which, frankly, more games should have.

Adventure with a friend or two through hundreds of areas in a dark fantasy world that provides a dizzying collection of monsters to repeatedly click on until they squish. At its heart, Hex is a two-player card game.

Both players have 20 health and draw cards from their decks to summon creatures and cast spells against each other. The spells and creatures can weave their abilities together to make powerful combinations.

Hex is free on Steam right now, and with hundreds of different cards available, players are still finding new ways to combine them.

Read more: Here are the best card games on PC. It is a fast-paced action-RPG with lightsabers and space combat and Jedi houses and bounty hunters and, if you go full dark side, you can fire lightning from your fingertips.

It really is one of the best Star Wars games around. Battle has never been so big. Imagine entire continents at war, with tanks, trucks, and fighter craft alongside hordes of infantry. There is nothing else quite like this out there, especially when it comes to free Steam games.

Manahan is an alternate reality where level progression is quicker, dungeons are tougher, battlegrounds are switched up, and special changes are added to pretty much everything. Pledge your loyalty to a great house or sign up for a mercenary company in this mech simulation.

In the Mechwarrior universe, piloting a giant robot can be a technical and rather nuanced occupation. There is also stomping for the more violently-inclined player. Do you want a chance to adventure in some of the most famous fantasy worlds there ever were?

This golden oldie continues to be one of the largest MMORPGs ever made, as well as holding the record for being the most updated game in history.

Runescape has an enormous player base and a massive, ever-evolving world to explore, full of challenges that you can choose according to your own interests. Want to fight, complete quests, or just to play minigames?

In Runescape it is entirely up to you. Hordes of monsters trickle into the map, magnetized to your position, and you mulch them with buzzsaw-spitters, incendiary shotguns, rocket launchers, or a microwave cannon that heats enemies from the inside until they burst.

The dynamic slow-mo system adds so much, dampening the chaos just enough—granting extra moments to take aim or take in the sight of an intestine flying across the screen.

Tripwire is a skilled digital gunsmith, and the detail lent to particle effects and reload animations holds up wonderfully even under the scrutiny of these plentiful, slowed-down sequences.

On higher difficulties, enemies adopt different behavioral triggers that make them genuinely harder to handle. Wes Fenlon: The precision and teamwork it takes to play Killing Floor 2 at higher difficulties is especially thrilling.

It was pretty bad, but I appreciated the option. Phil Savage: A coming-of-age platformer starring an anthropomorphic cat returning home to a dead-end town after dropping out of college.

I particularly love the frequent use of minigames as a way to highlight the need to escape the monotony of day-to-day responsibility. Andy Kelly: A beautiful, heartfelt story brought to life by flawed, nuanced characters who just happen to be talking animals.

It says something about life, but always knows when to crack a joke—and always with perfect timing—when things get too heavy. Philippa Warr: Deadly Premonition is always a gamble of a recommendation.

It's a gamble worth taking, though, because if you get on with its strangeness and its idiosyncrasies, it rewards you with a weird and beautiful experience of a kind you don't often get in gaming.

Yes, the cars handle horribly. Yes, the PC version has crashed on me extensively. Yes, it starts off more as an irritating pastiche of Twin Peaks. Yes, it has frustrating quicktime events.

And yes, some reveals draw uncomfortably on lazy tropes. But within that is a supernatural-tinged mystery that alternates between survival horror third-person shooter and a horror comedy investigation.

None of the game's shortcomings were dealbreakers for me and several of the characters I encountered as I hunted for the Raincoat Killer have stayed with me for the best part of a decade.

Pip: Stick Shift is my go-to example of a game which invokes complex subject matter while also being really fun to play. As per developer Robert Yang's description: "Stick Shift is an autoerotic night-driving game about pleasuring a gay car.

It's also a game where you move your mouse rhythmically, working your car to a climax. Phil: Frontier's galactic sandbox treads a fine line between excitement and tedium. Ferrying pesticides to an outpost six lightyears away!

However you decide to play, though—whatever amount of excitement you desire—Elite is still a masterfully crafted spaceship simulator.

I love the design and feel of its ships, particularly the holographic UI and peerless sci-fi sound design. Andy: Whether it's a chunky cargo hauler or a nimble fighter, every starship in Elite has its own distinct personality.

They're all a delight to fly. Even the most mundane task feels wonderfully tactile. But developer Level-5 has done fine on its own, creating a rich fantasy world with a cast of vivid characters worthy of the Ghibli name.

This is a sweeping JRPG about an usurped boy king on a quest to rebuild his kingdom and reclaim his throne. It's also one of the most colourful, vibrant games on PC. Wes: The cutscenes are remarkably Ghibli and full of pep and puns, but what really made me fall for Ni No Kuni 2 is just how many systems it layers atop systems, like a big-budget JRPG of old.

The sprawling kingdom builder is the centerpiece, with characters to recruit and buildings to construct and upgrade. Pip: Mu Cartographer is initially obtuse.

But once you start tinkering with all the different buttons and dials on the interface you begin to see how to explore the strange map.

The peaks and troughs of digital noise on your display suddenly turn into recognisable shapes as you tweak the settings and find the sweet spot. Stepped pyramids rise up where seconds ago all you could see was a fuzzy mess.

Phil: Guild Wars 2 is full of clever quality-of-life features—it's still one of the few MMOs that's figured out how to let you easily play with friends of a different level. The flow and pace of its maps are a thing of beauty, too.